Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo? And do they love you enough to keep it?
For one Gloucestershire couple, it seems that the lasting sign of love, is one man’s sacred last Rolo.
On 14 February 1984, 18 year-old Richard Brooks braved heavy snow and freezing temperatures to deliver a Valentine’s gift to his sweetheart Lynne. Alongside a card and a bouquet of flowers, Richard left his last Rolo delicately wrapped on Lynne’s doorstep as a sign of his love for her.
Thirty-three years and three children later, Lynne still to this day has the treasured chocolate to commemorate their first Valentine’s Day as a couple. Lynne, 51, a dispensary manager from Stinchcombe contacted Nestlé, the manufacturers of Rolo, to share her story and a photo of the original chocolate.
She recalls: “We weren’t living together at the time, so Richard came up to my house before he went to work, to leave me a card, some flowers and his last Rolo. It was all wrapped up and I remember thinking I wouldn’t eat it, I thought I would keep it.”
Richard adds: “I left Lynne my last Rolo as an expression of love, because as the slogan suggests, I loved her enough to give her my last Rolo.”
For the past 33 years, Lynne has kept Richard’s last Rolo in a small wooden box and admits it has become quite a talking point with friends, family and colleagues.
She says: “Our kids think it is mad and everyone at work thinks it is a little bit crazy to have kept it for this long.
Sometimes I even take it into work around Valentine’s Day to show people it.”
Even after 33 years together, the couple who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last year still keep their romance alive by taking the time to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Lynne says: “Every year we have a candlelit Valentine’s meal at home. We always send other cards and Richard will get me some flowers.”
And it is not just the Valentine’s Day traditions which Lynne and Richard continue to enjoy either. Rolo, which celebrates its 80th birthday this year, remains a firm favourite for the couple.
Lynne says: “We both like Rolo and it’s a favourite of my husband’s. Even now he would still give me his last Rolo and I would always do the same for him.”